Video: On Staten Island, a Once-in-a-Lifetime Dance Performance

When it was her turn to perform on a recent Sunday, Kasuni Navinna took center stage in the dance studio at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden in Staten Island.

As nine other dancers sat serenely behind her, she swayed and whirled and stomped rhythmically, fine-tuning the intricate moves of a Kandyan dance, a traditional art form from Sri Lanka.

They were movements Ms. Navinna, 23 years old, had been practicing for years for a once-in-a-lifetime performance called a Pahim Path Mangalya, a dance recital that also acts as a rite of passage for Kandyan dancers.

When she and the other members of the National Women’s Dance Troupe of Sri Lanka perform on Aug. 9, the dance will take on an even greater significance—it is believed by the organizers to be the first documented public performance of a Pahim Path Mangalya in the U.S.

“It is very rare to see something like this outside of Sri Lanka,” said troupe founder Tanya DeSilva. “It is only because we have these very good teachers. Without the proper teachers, there is no way you can do something like this.”

The show, slated for next month at the College of Staten Island Center for the Arts, is also an opportunity to promote a point of national pride.

“Some people think Sri Lanka is India, that we are the same,” said the troupe’s master choreographer Dilhan Pinnagoda through an interpreter. “This is a big opportunity for us to show the local people that we have a big tradition in Sri Lanka.”

Kandyan dance is one of three traditional dances in the island nation of about 21 million people located off the southeastern tip of India. The centuries-old dance from the central hill region of Kandy is derived from a collective healing ritual called kohomba kankariya.

Traditionally an all-male dance, women started performing the art form in the 1940s, adding gentler, more fluid movements to the intense choreography.

Susan A. Reed, associate professor of women’s and gender studies and anthropology at Bucknell University, said that the dance form is ubiquitous in Sri Lanka, where it is performed in schools and at government ceremonies.

“It is a little bit unusual to have a Kandyan dance troupe in the U.S.,” she said noting that she knows of only a handful across the country. “I will say that while you can see lots of Indian dancing in New York, it is extremely rare to see Kandyan dancing.”

The blending of styles was on display during a recent rehearsal. Dressed in black leotards and sarongs, the barefoot dancers, who range in age from 15 to 25, combined gentle swaying and twists of the wrists with powerful stomping and acrobatic leaps to the sound of geta drums.

Ms. Navinna has been studying Kandyan dance for more than 15 years. She emigrated from Sri Lanka with her family at just 11 months old. Her mother enrolled her in Ms. DeSilva’s classes at age 6.

Kasuni Navinna, left, leaps into the air during part of the dance.

Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal

“I was so little. I don’t know if I took it seriously,” she said. “As I grew older, I really valued how much it helped me get back to my own Sri Lankan roots. It’s a rewarding feeling to know that I can do something that touches my heritage.”

Sachindara Navinna, 16, grew up watching her older sister dancing and started formal lessons when she was five years old.

“I love that it’s so special,” she said. “I feel like anyone can say they’re a tap dancer. But how many people in this country can say they’re a traditional Kandyan dancer?”

The sisters are admittedly intimidated by the coming performance, for which they must flawlessly execute nine elaborate routines.

“I’ve always loved performing and being on stage, but I’m usually never this nervous,” the younger Navinna sister said, then added, “but it’s a good nervous.”

Said her older sister, “It’s a lot to be able to recall all of it and put everything into every dance. It’s a little scary but really exciting at the same time.”

The troupe has been practicing every weekend since last October, with a typical rehearsal lasting about six hours. The preparation, however, goes beyond the studio for the dancers, most of whom live in Staten Island, home to one of the largest Sri Lankan communities in the U.S.

On the Sunday when they rehearsed at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the troupe also visited the Staten Island Buddhist Vihara and the Church of Our Lady of Pity, where they said prayers and dedicated themselves to the performance.

The dancers pledged to become temporary vegetarians until after their performance, for which they will be festooned in hand-sewn costumes made in Sri Lanka. Also on that day, during a ritual ceremony, their mothers will adorn them with ornate headdresses.

“They are getting a treasure,” Ms. DeSilva said. “So they have to be pure and clean.”